Straight knitting machine operation



June 2, 1959 R. THIERFELDER 8 STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE OPERATION Filed June 10, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. fil/ddl fi fizz/Wider, By @064 M A TTORNEYS.

June 2, 1959 i R. THIERFELDER I 2,883,814

STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE OPERATION Filed June 10, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I 1 1: I; II" IIIIIII llll Illl lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllill IIIIIllllllllllIIIIIllllIllIllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllll IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

United States Patent 7 STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE OPERATION Rudolph Thierfelder, Fleetwood, Pa., assignor to Karl Lieberknecht, Inc., Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 10, 1957, Serial No. 664,668

6 Claims. (Cl. 66-82) This invention relates to methods of operating straight knitting machines, particularly multi-section knitting machines of the Cotton type such as are commonly used in the production of full fashioned hosiery or other articles of apparel.

When, in the operation heretofore of machines of the above designated type, the yarn carriers associated with each knitting section were withdrawn from action, the yarns individually served by them had to be cut by hand adjacent the selvages of the fabrics and engaged under spring holding clamps located on the frames of the machines at opposite sides of the respective sections to prevent the yarns from running back through the guide tubes of the carriers. Thus, with machines comprising twenty-four or more individual knitting sections, a great amount of time was consumed by the machine attendants in cutting and anchoring the yarns of the retracted carriers.

The chief aim of my invention is to overcome the above mentioned drawback. This objective is realized in practice, as hereinafter more fully set forth, through provision of a simple method by which the carriers when retracted, are reciprocated through short distances to form, upon small isolated groups of needles spaced laterally from those by which the fabric is being knitted in each section, narrow tapes; continually drawing away these tapes as the knitting progresses; and automatically severing the floats of the yarns occasioned, during introduction and withdrawal of the carriers, between the fabric selvages and the tapes.

Other objects and attendant advantages will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawings, wherein:

Figs. 1-4 are diagrammatic views showing successive steps in the operation of one of the sections of a straight multi-section knitting machine in accordance with my invention.

With more detailed reference to these diagrammatic drawings, the numeral 1 designates the needle bar of the illustrated knitting section of the machine, said bar being provided with the usual straight away series of needles 2. For the knitting of a typical full-fashioned stocking blank B, for example, I have shown five carriers which are indicated by small circles at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and which, it is to be understood, are traversed back and forth crosswise of the needles in the well known Way to feed their respective yarns. By way of further exemplification, the carrier 3, I employ for a welt yarn W, the carrier 4 for a leg yarn L, and the carriers 5 and 6 for splicing yarns S and S respectively for reinforcing heel areas inwardly of opposite selvages of the blank B. The carrier indicated at 7 is employed in accordance with the invention to feed an auxiliary yarn A for a purpose presently explained.

In Fig. l, the welt portion of the fabric is being knitted from yarn W fed from the carrier 3 as said carrier is traversed back and forth across the needles. At the same time, the retracted carriers 5 and 7 at the left for the T 2,888,814 Patented June 2, 1959.

splicing yarn S and for the auxiliary yarn A are reciprocated through a short stroke to form, from said yarns on a small group of isolated needles 2a spaced leftward by a short distance from the needles of the group on which the stocking fabric is being knitted, a narrow tape T. Also at the same time, the carriers 4 and 6 at the right are similarly reciprocated through a short stroke to form, from the leg yarn L and the splicing yarn S, a similar narrow tape T on a small group of isolated needles 2b spaced rightward from the mid group of the needles on which the fabric is being produced.

After sufi'icient length of welt fabric is knitted, the carrier 3 is withdrawn to the right as in Fig. 2 and knitted into the tape T on the small group of needles 2b, with incidental floating of a segment w of said yarn crosswise between the righthand selvage edge of the fabric and said tape. Then, after placement of a welt rod 10 on the welt fabric and re-impalement of the starting course upon the needles to close the welt, the welt rod is hooked up to the take-up tapes 11 as is ordinarily done in stocking knitting.

In Fig. 3, the leg yarn carrier 4 has been introduced and traversed leftward on its first stroke to knit the first course of the leg fabric, with incidental floating of the leg yarn L at 1 between the right hand selvage and the tape T. During knitting of the leg portion of the stocking blank, a portion of the tape T will be formed from the welt yarn W and the splicing yarn S fed by the retracted carriers 3 and 6 as they are reciprocated through a short stroke across the small isolated group 2b of the needles.

After a suflicient length of leg fabric has been knitted and narrowed to ankle width, the splicing yarn carrier 5 is introduced from the left to start reinforcing a heel area adjacent the corresponding selvage of the blank, with incidental floating s of the splicing yarn S between the tape T and said selvage as shown in Fig. 4. I

In Fig. 5, the splicing yarn carrier 6 has been introduced from the right to start reinforcement of a heel area adjacent the righthand selvage of the blank, with incidental floating of the splicing yarn as at s between said selvage and the tape T. The tapes T and T are formed thereafter for a time respectively from the yarns A and W alone as the carriers 3 and 7 are reciprocated through the short distance across the small groups 2a and 2b of isolated needles.

During their formation, the tapes T and T are constantly drawn away for ultimate disposal as waste, through individual branches 13 and 14 of a manifold tube 15 connected to a source of suction (not shown) after the floats of the various yarns have been severed as instanced in Fig. 6 by means conventionally indicated at 16 and 17 in Figs. 5 and 6. These means may be in the form of wires electrically or otherwise heated. Of course, for the purposes of my invention, any other type of severing means may be substituted, if desired or found more convenient.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the attendant of the knitting machine is relieved of the necessity of manually cutting the yarns as they are withdrawn from the knitting, and of anchoring them in spring clips as was necessary heretofore. A very considerable amount of time is thus saved, especially in the operation of straight knitting machines having a great number of individual knitting sections for the production of as many individual stockings or similar articles.

When expensive yarns are used in the knitting, I prefer to reciprocate the yarn carriers, while retracted, for short periods only just before and after substitutions are made as between the welt and leg yarn carriers 3 and 4, and at the times when the splicing yarn carriers 5 and 6 are introduced into and withdrawn from activity. Thus,

under these conditions and as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, correspondingly short tape lengths T and T are formed on the small needle groups 2a and 2b during the retracted periods of the carriers and united chain-wise by unknitted intervening lengths of the'yarns.

While the preferred embodiment of this invention has been described:in some detail, it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the invention as hereinafter claimed.

, Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. A'method of'operating a straight knitting machin having a bar with a series of needles and plural interchangeable traversible yarn carriers, to produce fabric having portions respectively knitted from different yarns individually fed "by two of the carriers, said method involving'the steps of reciprocating one carrier, while retracted'to one side, through a short stroke to form upon a small group of isolated needles spaced by an interval from the'needles employed in the knitting, a narrow tape concurrently with the formation of fabric from yarn fed by the other of the two carriers, and vice versa; continually drawing away the tape as it is being formed; and severing crosswise floats of the respective yarns occasioned between the tape and the corresponding selvage of the fabric incident to interchanges of the two carriers.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which the carriers, while retracted, are reciprocated for short periods only just before and after carrier interchanges.

3. A method of operating a straight knitting machine having a bar with a series of needles and interchangeable traversible yarn carriers, to produce fabric with a reinforced area along a selvage thereof, said method involving the steps of normally reciprocating a splicing yarn carrier through a short stroke while retracted together with an auxiliary yarn carrier, to form upon a small isolated group of needles a narrow tape spaced by an interval to one side of the needles employed in the knitting of the fabric from body yarn fed by another carrier; continually drawing away the tape as it is being formed; and severing the crosswise connecting floats of the splicing yarn between the tape and the corresponding selvage of the fabric occasioned during introduction and retraction of the splicing yarn carrier.

4. The method according to claim 3, in which the splicing yarn carrier is reciprocated for. short periods only just before the introduction and after the retraction thereof.

5. A method of operating a straight knitting machine, having a *bar with a series of needles and plural interchangeable traversi'ble yarn carriers, to produce fabric having portions respectively knitted from difierent body yarns individually fed by two of the carriers, and areas along opposte selvages reinforced by splicing yarns individually fed from two other carriers, said method involving the steps of reciprocating the body yarn carriers during the periods of retraction to one side together with one of the splicing yarn carriers, to form, upon 'a small isolated group of needles spaced rightward from the needles employed in the knitting, a narrow tape; at the same time reciprocating the other splicing yarn carrier While retracted together with another carrier for an auxiliary yarn, through a short stroke to form, upon a small group of isolated needles spaced by an interval leftward from the needles employed in the knitting to the opposite side, a second narrow tape from said other splicing yarn and said auxiliary yarn; continually drawing away the'two tapes as they are being formed; and severing the crosswise connecting fioats of the two body yarns and of one of the splicing yarns between the first mentioned tape and the corresponding selvage of the fabric, occasioned upon interchange of the body yarn carriers and insertion and retraction of the first mentioned splicing yarn carrier, and the crosswise connecting floats between the second mentioned tape and the opposite selvage of the fabric occasioned during introduction and retraction of the second mentioned splicing yarn carrier.

6. The method according to claim 5 in which the'two body yarn carriers and the first splicing yarn carrier, and the second splicing yarn carrier and the auxiliary yarn carrier, respectively, are reciprocated for short periods just before and after interchanges of the body yarn carriers and just before introduction and after the retraction of the respective splicing yarn carriers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,560,484 Schoenster et al. July 10, 1951 2,602,313 Reading July 8, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 749,044 Great Britain May 16, 1956 

